Concrete railroad ties are generally considered to be a superior alternative to their wooden counterparts. While having the same general shape and performing the same general function as a wooden tie, concrete ties generally have a longer operational life, and additionally provide greater support for high speed and heavy traffic rails than wooden railroad ties. As a result, there is a growing use of concrete ties in the industry in the replacement of wooden ties, and in the construction of new rail lines.
Despite the above advantages, concrete ties can become unserviceable over time and need to be replaced. Replacing concrete ties is somewhat similar to replacing wooden ties in that the tie is pulled from underneath the rails of the railroad track along a direction generally perpendicular to the rails.
However, replacing spent concrete ties can be time consuming and labor intensive. The difficulty in replacing concrete railroad ties is due in large part to the fastening system used to fasten the railroad tracks to the tie. Generally, concrete railroad ties include mounting structures used to fix the rails to the tie. Such hardware typically include metal lugs or fasteners (hereinafter referred to as “towers”) that are cast into the concrete and have an exposed portion that extends above a top surface of the concrete tie. The typical overall height of a concrete tie is therefore generally greater than a wooden tie due to the additional height of the exposed portion of the towers.
The towers are used in conjunction with clips to fasten the railroad tracks to the tie to prevent unwanted movement of the railroad tracks relative thereto. Typically, a tower is located on either side of a single railroad track so that clips can be mounted to the tower and installed in such a way that they exert an even downward pressure on the rail thereby forcing it against the concrete tie. Unfortunately, removing a concrete tie from underneath the railroad tracks to replace it with a new tie is very difficult because the towers will interfere with the railroad tracks if the tie is pulled in a direction generally perpendicular to the rails.
Generally, it is undesirable and in some cases impossible to “lift” the rail from the tie or ties to be replaced to allow clearance for the additional height of the tie created by the towers, as such an operation can permanently deform the rail. Instead, and with reference to FIG. 9, to remove a concrete tie from underneath the rail, a trench 308 must be dug adjacent to the tie 310 that is deep enough to accommodate the overall height of the tie 310, including the exposed portions of the towers 322, so that the tie 310 can be removed from underneath the rails 312 of the railroad tracks without disturbing them.
Accordingly, the general process of removing a concrete railroad tie to replace the same requires first manually removing the clips. Then, a trench is dug adjacent to the tie. The tie is then pushed or otherwise forced into the trench. Finally, the concrete tie is pulled from under the tracks. When hundreds and/or thousands of concrete ties must be replaced along a single rail line in a single job, the above order of operations can drive the cost of replacement to undesirable, and in extreme cases economically infeasible, levels.
In view of the above, it is desirable to have an apparatus and method for replacing a concrete railroad tie that alleviates the deficiencies noted above.
Embodiments of the invention provide such an apparatus and method. These and other advantages of the invention, as well as additional inventive features, will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.